Back to school: new Ed requirements for licensing move forward.

• Author: Allen, Bruce C.
• Position: Capitol Beat

As tens of thousands of students head back to begin or continue their academic journey toward becoming a California CPA, (hey have a little more clarity on changes to educational requirements for CPA licensure.

The new education requirements, which are being finalized by the California Board of Accountancy, already are having a major impact on students' course selections despite the Jan. 1, 2014, implementation date.

Proposed changes to the 150-hour education requirement for CPA licensure in California were discussed in the July issue of California CPA. Since then, the CBA's Accounting Education Committee (AEC) and the Ethics Curriculum Committee (EGG) presented their final recommendations to the full Board.

While the CBA made some amendments to the proposals, they agreed with the central framework. For example, the AEG report included a recommendation to require certain courses to be upper division; however; the CBA removed this requirement so students can still utilize the community college system to fulfill their CPA education requirements.

Similarly the ECC report also contained a recommendation that at least three of the units in accounting ethics be taken at the upper division level. 1 he CBA recommended that the ECC remove the upper division requirement to ensure that the community college system can fully participate in the education of future CPAs. With that in mind, the upper division requirement will either be modified by the ECC or through legislation. The most current proposals can be viewed at the CBA website at www.dca.ca.gov/cba.

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Redistricting Shakeout

As the California Legislature finishes the first year of its two-year legislative session, legislators will head back to their respective districts to attend to local matters and constituent needs. Legislators also will shift their focus to campaigning.

Fund-raising events and phone calls for contributions will steadily increase from now until Election Day 2012. Due to the reapportionment process, California will be an unusually heated hotbed of political activity in 2012 with elected officials and those hopeful to become elected-participating in a statewide game of musical chairs to fill up to 177 new legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization seats.

Political pundits have varying opinions on the possible political makeup that will result from redistricting and voter reform, but the overriding consensus is that there will be a major shakeup to...